


Scheme: Get Ignatz a Date

by samariumwriting



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Bisexual Male Character, Developing Relationship, Fluff, Friendship, Humor, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-02
Updated: 2019-09-02
Packaged: 2020-10-05 19:21:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20493959
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/samariumwriting/pseuds/samariumwriting
Summary: Ignatz is a great guy. His only problem, Claude thinks, is that he's way, way too shy to ever confess his feelings to anyone. But hey, that's where he comes in. All he has to do is work out who Ignatz has a crush on.





	Scheme: Get Ignatz a Date

**Author's Note:**

> So a couple people on the FE Compendium discord were talking about some Ashe/Ignatz headcanons and I thought hey I could do that  
And then it got a bit longer than anticipated. Enjoy! :D

It was very, very, very easy to tell when Ignatz had a crush. Probably because Ignatz saw the beauty in a lot of things, and in a lot of people, so every other conversation left him blushing, stumbling over his words, or saying something about how beautiful they looked.

Yet, to Claude at least, it was a marvel that Ignatz was not in a relationship yet. He was kind, earnest, easy with compliments, and a pretty dedicated student to boot. He wasn’t even lacking in social status, and he was probably going to be a knight. All good things.

But he didn’t have any kind of partner, and that was due to one key, difficult reason to overcome: Ignatz did not ask people on dates. He got too nervous, he got worried about rejection, he overthought every tiny detail until he just decided not to ask at all. Claude had seen it happen, right in front of his eyes, several times.

The way Ignatz twisted his pen between his fingers, idly doodling on his class notes when he couldn’t focus on anything. His tiny sighs that he thought no one else saw. He’d take his glasses off, do nothing to them, put them back on, fiddle with his hair. But he never, ever, never approached anyone to ask them on a date.

Well, not this time. Because Ignatz had another crush, and Claude wasn’t going to let him pass up happiness this time. It wouldn’t be fair on the lucky individual if he never asked, either, because Ignatz was probably a great boyfriend. Anyone who wasn’t dating him was probably missing out on some seriously wholesome interactions.

‘Scheme: get Ignatz a date’ had begun.

Step One: discover who Ignatz currently had a crush on. This was more difficult than it first seemed, because Claude didn’t know everyone at the monastery. He knew a lot of people, sure, but not everyone, and he also didn’t spend his life following Ignatz around to work out who he liked this time.

It wasn’t anyone in the Golden Deer class, that was for sure, because Ignatz didn’t spend classes making nervous glances at anyone in particular. That meant it had to be someone outside their class, which made it more difficult.

His first port of call was Hilda. She knew everyone and everything about what made them tick. The other day she’d managed to get Lady Rhea to do a chore for her. Basically, she had some serious skills, and if anyone was likely to know who Ignatz liked, it was her.

“Who does Ignatz like?” Hilda twirled a piece of hair around her finger. “Hmm...honestly, Claude, it could be anyone. Probably someone he’s able to hold a conversation with, so no one too intimidating. Definitely not Edelgard or Hubert.”

“Thanks, but I think I could have guessed that myself,” he said with a smile.

“I wasn’t done yet!” she protested. “I’m thinking. I’m not really suited for detective work.”

“Hilda, you got out of doing a chore for the Archbishop because you told her it was your mother’s birthday that weekend,” he said. “You know exactly what people like. So please, tell me. It’s for his own good!”

“I know, I know,” she said. “Um, I’d say it’s someone in the Blue Lion house. Ignatz likes to hang out outside their class sometimes, but I thought that was just a knightly connections thing he was trying to do.”

“Great, thanks,” he said. He owed her one, but he wasn’t going to say that, because they both knew they’d both remember it and it would be brought up at an inopportune time so Claude could do something for Hilda.

Step One, Part Two: go and talk to people in the Blue Lions house and work out who Ignatz could have a crush on. Sylvain was out of the question, because Ignatz didn’t hold any fondness for people who treated girls like that. Felix was probably out too, he was too rude to people, and Dedue was a gentle guy but probably scared Ignatz a bit. The girls, Dimitri, and Ashe weren’t out of the question though.

Actually, all the others seemed pretty likely. Ignatz was very fond of the idea of valiant knights, people he could properly look up to in his ambition to help his family by being a good knight. Faerghus apparently just had too many conventionally attractive people, so Claude wasn’t able to rule any of them out.

“Oh, hey Claude!” it was Mercedes who first noticed him, looking up from her books when he entered the room. It was the off time between lessons and evening training drills, so there were a couple of students in the classroom. “What could’ve brought you here?”

“Schemes,” he said with a grin. Mercedes immediately looked concerned. “Not that kind of scheme, don’t worry, but we’re going to beat you in the Battle of the Eagle and Lion anyway. I’m trying to find out something for a friend so I can do him a favour.”

“What kind of thing?” Dimitri asked, fixing Claude with a decidedly suspicious look.

“Oh, your princeliness, you wound me with your glare,” Claude said, putting a hand over his heart. “I need to find out who Ignatz has a crush on so I can get them to date. He deserves a good date and he’s a great guy, but he’s really shy. So I don’t think he’ll ever do it on his own.”

“And you...think it’s one of us?” Dimitri asked, a furrow forming in his brow. “Why not someone in your class?”

“Because he’s really obvious when he likes someone,” he said. “Like, really obvious. It’s not someone in my class, but my reliable source says that Ignatz hangs outside your classroom sometimes, waiting for someone.”

“Who’s your reliable source?” Mercedes asked.

“Hilda,” he said, and she seemed pretty satisfied with that answer.

“I think I’ve seen Ignatz talking to Ingrid,” Dimitri said, “but I think when I saw them, they were arguing, so I doubt it’s her.” Dimitri had never struck Claude as the type to engage in gossip, but maybe he was buying in hard to the whole ‘it would be really good for him’ thing. “Is Ignatz the type to be impressed by someone like Felix?”

“No,” Mercedes said with a soft laugh. “He’s much too shy. I doubt they’ve had a conversation without Felix yelling at him, if I’m being honest.”

“What about Annette?” Claude asked. She was cute, and enthusiastic. Maybe Ignatz had a bit of a crush on her. Mercedes thought for a moment, but before she could open her mouth, Dedue spoke.

“I would hazard a guess that it was Ashe,” he said. Everyone turned to look at him, and he raised an eyebrow. “I did not think it was an odd suggestion. They read together occasionally in the library, and Ignatz often meets him when lessons are done for the day.”

“Perfect, Dedue, thank you!” he said. Yep, Ashe would make sense. Sweet, earnest, really cute, not at all intimidating. That had been surprisingly painless, which meant he was on to the next step.

Step Two: find out if Ashe likes Ignatz back. More difficult than it seemed, really, because he’d barely spoken to Ashe before. Seen him a lot, sure, but that was because Ashe was a diligent student who spent a lot of time in the library and wasn’t at all likely to spend a lot of time idly chatting to Claude.

So the easiest time to speak with him was at a meal, or in his free time, but Ashe was religious and Claude tried not to set foot in the cathedral if he could avoid it in case the hypothetically real Goddess smote him (unlikely) or Seteth chastised him for not following proper decorum (incredibly likely).

So, a meal it was. An easy smile plastered on his face, he slid into the seat next to Ashe and waved. “Hey, Ashe,” he said.

“Oh, hi Claude!” he replied. He looked like a mix between anxious and pleased, but that wasn’t too much of a problem. Just so long as he wasn’t so nervous he clammed up entirely.

They chatted idly for a while about the usual things: school work, the weather, the next monthly assignment, all harmless, inoffensive things that weren’t a worry at all. When Ashe was nearly but not quite done with his food, Claude pounced. “Hypothetically speaking,” he said, and Ashe immediately shot him a wary look, “who’s your favourite person in my class?”

“Oh, u-um, Marianne is lovely, but she can be a bit scary sometimes,” he said, and Goddess, Claude might have actually found someone who was even shyer than Ignatz. Marianne? Scary? Pigs would fly before he’d believe that. “Ignatz is a...good friend, too.”

Good friend. Okay, sure. Claude could work with that. “Good friend, huh?” he asked, winking. Ashe flushed bright red immediately. He could definitely work with that.

“Well, maybe-”

“Say no more,” Claude said, picking up his plate and standing in a single motion. “Thank you for an enlightening chat, Ashe. Your secret is safe with me.” He winked again, and Ashe buried his face in his hands. Onto step three.

Step Three: getting the two of them out on a date together. Honestly, this was the easiest step of the plan. Ignatz liked Ashe, Ashe liked Ignatz. It shouldn’t be hard at all.

That said, it was proving to be more difficult than it should have been. Finding a time when both of them were free for an extended period of time when they were both very dedicated students was ridiculously difficult. Claude was sure they’d make time, if he told them it was a three person tea party in the gardens, but that would ruin the surprise.

So he spent ages going back and forth, working out a good time, and then he put his plan into action. Which brought him onto Step Four: make their date amazing.

The first part of that step was asking Ignatz what his favourite tea was, and Ashe what his favourite flowers were. Armed with that information, he asked Ignatz to bring violets to tea (when asked why, he said it was for ‘the aesthetic’. Ignatz seemed to buy it, so it was fine) and asked Ashe to bring some Seiros tea leaves (cheap, because he knew Ashe didn’t have much money, and also one of Ignatz’s favourites).

The meeting time was set. At four in the afternoon on a Saturday, Ashe and Ignatz would show up at the gardens to meet Claude, and he wouldn’t be there. But Ashe would be armed with Ignatz’s favourite tea, Ignatz would have Ashe’s favourite flowers. If everything went well, they’d have a great time. And just to make sure, Claude had asked Dorothea to be having tea with someone there at the same time to nudge them in the right direction if possible.

Claude wished he could see it all go down, but he’d have to settle for the retelling from Dorothea. Besides, he didn’t mind not seeing it if it gave the two of them a better chance of having a great date.

All that was left to do was wait for Step Five: get them to confess their attraction. This was going to be the hardest part. Ignatz was shy, Ashe was shy, and they were both hopeless gay babies who definitely needed an extra push. He’d had to trick them into going on a date with each other, so getting them to actually talk about their feelings? Probably impossible.

What wasn’t helpful was Dorothea; he needed information from her to know how to proceed. Were they blushing the whole time? Did Ignatz give Ashe the flowers? Did they talk for hours, or run off as soon as possible? Did either of them attempt to flirt with the other? He needed to know the tone of their friendship before he could push any further. But when he asked her how it had gone, she’d just said “oh, it was fine,” before she hurried off somewhere else.

It was unhelpful, and he really needed to know how to react the next time he saw Ignatz in lessons on Monday morning. It was bad enough that it was Monday and a morning, let alone a Monday morning after he’d stood two friends up on an appointment in an attempt to get them to date.

So Step Five ended up with a Part Two: hope. Because with Dorothea being unhelpful and suddenly inordinately difficult to find, he couldn’t do a darn thing for the plan. He just had to hope, wait, and see what happened. Then he could work out what to do next.

On Monday morning, he arrived to class early, set his books out, and waited. Normally Ignatz arrived before him, but he needed to be prepared. Dealing with this could take a while and he just wanted his friend to be happy as soon as possible, honestly. Ignatz and Ashe would make a great couple.

Ignatz was running later than his usual schedule, though. Claude always arrived ten minutes before their morning lecture started, and it was five minutes before now. No sign of Ignatz at all. He was probably starting to look odd, always glancing over at the door. It wasn’t like Ignatz to be late.

Three minutes before the lecture started, when the Professor had already arrived, Claude heard Ignatz’s voice and turned in his seat to watch, mouth open, as Ignatz walked to the entrance of the classroom, hand in hand with Ashe. Flushing pink, Ashe leaned over and kissed Ignatz on the cheek before letting go of his hand with a wave and heading off in the direction of the Blue Lions classroom.

Ignatz, smiling wide and blushing profusely, practically skipped into the classroom. When he caught Claude’s gaze, he gave him a look Claude couldn’t quite fathom. Claude winked in return, and Ignatz’s only response was to laugh and head over to his usual seat. ‘Scheme: get Ignatz a date’ was clearly a resounding success.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! :) if you enjoyed, please consider leaving a comment, checking out my other FE3H works, or saying hi on twitter @samariumwriting.


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